Kitchener Camp report and other papers

Identifier
WL1931
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 72672
Dates
1 Jan 1939 - 31 Jan 1960
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Biographical History

Ernest Martin Joseph, OBE (1877-1960), was an architect and youth worker. He was a leading designer of synagogues, including the Art Deco synagogue at Sheepcote Street, Birmingham, and the classically styled synagogue in St. John's Wood Road, London. He was also a partner in the firm of Messrs Joseph, whose best known building is Shell Mex House between the Strand and the Thames Embankment in London. He was one of six children of Nathan Solomon Joseph (1834-1909), also an architect and social worker, and his wife Alice who died in his infancy. N. S. Joseph was brother-in-law to the chief rabbi, Hermann Adler.
Ernest Joseph was educated at St Paul's School and devoted himself to Jewish youth from his twenties until days before his death. In the First World War he worked to provide buildings for what later became the NAAFI and was promoted Major and awarded the MBE. In the years before World War II he worked to provide for the influx of Jewish refugees from Germany. He returned to NAAFI work in World War II and was appointed OBE in 1947.
Ernest and his wife Emma had been founder members of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in 1910. His father had toyed with the Jewish Religious Union, his status as architect to the United Synagogue notwithstanding. Ernest became Honorary Architect to the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues and was responsible for the design of their premier building at St John's Wood in 1925 and for its reconstruction after bomb damage in November 1940. (The building was demolished in 1991 and only the portico remains.) He played a prominent role in the affairs of this synagogue, being elected to the Council in 1929, and serving as treasurer between 1936 and 1953 and vice-president from 1953 until his retirement in 1956.

Archival History

Ernest Martin Joseph was the maternal grandfather of the donor.

Acquisition

papers re kitchener camp etc

Donated 31.3.2014

Donor: Cohen, Colin

Scope and Content

Papers of and about Ernest Martin Joseph including transcript of a lecture on the history of Richborough (Kitchener Camp) for refugees and protocol of a meeting of thanksgiving for Ernest Martin Joseph's life.

Conditions Governing Access

Open

People

Subjects

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.